Two people are dead and hundreds of thousands of customers were without power Saturday afternoon after Isaias crashed into the U.S. Gulf Coast overnight, bringing heavy rain and strong winds even as it moved inland.
The deaths happened in separate incidents in Alabama and Florida after trees fell on their homes, authorities said.
Isaias made landfall Friday night near Destin, Fla., as a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds that downed trees and knocked out power lines. It has weakened as it grinds north through Alabama, with winds at about 35 mph. The storm was categorized as a posttropical cyclone Saturday and is expected to subside Sunday, the National Weather Service said.
Nearly 800,000 customers remained without electricity Saturday afternoon in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, according to outage tracker PowerOutage.com. Florida accounted for more than half of the outages. Gov. Ron DeSantis said Saturday that crews were sent out overnight to begin repair work.
"We'll get everything back up and running and let people go on with their lives as soon as possible," DeSantis said Saturday morning.
Even as Isaias weakens, the storm is expected to drop as much as 8 inches of rain over the weekend in southern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia, forecasters said.
Rivers in the western Florida Panhandle could flood as they reach their highest levels Saturday and begin to recede Sunday, the National Weather Service said.
Isaias was the first Atlantic hurricane of 2026 in what has been a relatively quiet season in the region. Forecasters are tracking two other storms elsewhere: Hurricane Simon off Mexico's west coast, and Tropical Storm Rachel that is headed toward the U.S.-Mexico border.
Two airports in the region, Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport and the Pensacola International Airport, remained closed to clear and assess damage. Roads in parts of southern Alabama were closed and officials told people to stay home as crews worked to remove downed trees.